Office Of The City Administrator - Regular Meeting

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. And welcome to the rules and legislation committee meeting on this Tuesday, May 7. And this, meeting shall come to order before I begin excuse me.

My apologies. It's at 10:32, and, this meeting shall come to order. Before I give role, I would like to give instructions on how to submit a speaker card for an item on this agenda. If you are participating here in chambers with us in person and would like to submit a speaker card, please turn a speaker card into a clerk representative here in the front either before the item is read into record or, ten minutes after this meeting start. This meeting started at 10:32, so that would be 10:42.

Registering to speak via Zoom was due twenty four hours before this meeting began, noting that there will no longer be online speaker cards accepted. But once again, this meeting began at 10:32. We will stop accepting speaker cards at 10:42 or before the item is read into record. With that, I would like to begin roll. I do, starting with council member Brown. Present. Council member Fife. Present. Council member Ramachandran who is chairing this meeting. Present.

And council president Jenkins who is currently excused. He is participating remotely, but I don't see him here in the queue. Alright. With that, we will chair Ramachandra, did you have any announcements before I go to the first item?

Only happy municipal clerk's week again. Thank you for your service to our city. Thank you. Grateful for you keeping our meetings in order and in check. And with that, let's get this going.

Thank you. There is three more days left in municipal clerks and we accept gift cards, donuts, anything that you would like to provide. Thank you so much. With that we will now move to item number one which is the approval of the draft minutes for the committee meeting on 04/23/2026.

Is there a motion? Yep. Move second.

That was a motion by council member Fife, seconded by council member, Brown to approve item one which is the, draft minutes for 04/23/2026. On roll, council member Brown? Aye. Council member Fife? Aye. And council member Ramachandra who's sharing this meeting? Aye. And council member Jenkins excused that was three ayes and one excused. Jenkins, that now takes us to item number two, which is the termination of scheduling outstanding committee items, your pending list. And I do have two speakers for this item or one speaker.

Okay. Let's hear the public speakers.

Thank you so much. I have Blair Beekman. If you are here and participating online, your hand is raised. Thank you so much. You may begin.

Hi. Blair Beekman. Happy Thursday. I'm I I'm interested in in this item that you have a you have an item that will be going to about the charter amendment changes to the civilian oversight of the OPD and that process. You guys have been having really awesome committee meetings lately, the past few months, very informative and informational.

And at your most recent committee meetings, I think at the end of April, I can't remember which one. Was discussed that the previous counsel and administration worked really hard to create important civilian oversight practices that were actually working well, and and something was actually working well. And I I can't quite remember the facts about the situation, but it's like you guys are upsetting that process right now. All of you, the administration, the new council staff, and you're trying to set up new standards and best practices with these civilian oversight and changes to the charter. But we have to acknowledge that the previous civilian police commission board was doing something very well.

And you acknowledged that in the meeting. And I think you want to work on those best practices yet at the same time, you're upsetting what was an already good balance that was taking place. And how are you going to address that? I think all of

that has to be addressed and certainly made clear how I I can't remember to give a better facts about it, but it has to be made more clear what was doing what was going well the previous time and what you're doing now, to to create these charter changes. Do we

really need these charter changes? And the previous commissioners were really good, actually. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. That concludes our public speakers for item number two. I need a motion. I'll entertain a motion. So moved. Second. And that was a motion by council member Brown, seconded by council member Fife to approve item two, determination of scheduling an outstanding committee items as is on roll. Council member Brown? Aye. Council member Fife? Aye. Council sorry. Sorry. Council member Ramachandran is sharing this meeting? Aye.

And council president Jenkins is excused. Item number two is approved with three ayes, one excused. That now takes us to item number three, new scheduling items. I will begin reading these items into record starting with item 3.1, which for staff will need an urgency finding. Let me read the title into record.

It is a resolution authorizing one, the city administrator to accept inappropriate grant funds in a total amount not to exceed $300,000 from the California Department of Transportation Community Cleanup and Employment Pathway grant program and execute related grant agreements. Two, waiving the city of Oakland's advertising and competitive requests for proposal qualification requirements for the CCEP funded services. Three, amending the city council resolution to increase the agreement with the Youth Employment Partnership Inc. By two two hundred thousand what? $2,125,000 oh, excuse me.

$250,000, my apologies, for the total contract amount not to exceed $2,125,000. Four, amending the city, council resolution to increase the agreement with the Lake Merritt Institute by $50,000 for the total contract amount not to exceed $1,212,500, and five, adopting appropriate CEQA findings. This item is being requested to be scheduled for the May 12 public works and transportation committee agenda. I do see staff for the urgency.

Good morning, members of the council. So staff requests an urgency finding and that's that this item go to the May 12 public works committee. The city was awarded $300,000 from Caltrans for this work. The state's deadline for commencement of the work has already begun, and the work just has a one year timeline for implementation. So we're requesting that this goes so that we can commence recruiting and training the youth participants for the Timo Clinton program and and start the work.

Thank you so much. So noted. We will now move to item 3.2, which is a resolution, from council member Wong's office. I believe they may have a request for this item. Is council member Wong's staff here? Thank you so much.

Good morning. Good morning. Yep.

My apologies. Before you begin, if I can just read the full title. I didn't get a chance to do so. My apologies. Item 3.2 is a resolution submitting to the voters at the November third twenty twenty six election, the Oakland Shelter Access for Encampment Response Act to, among other things, amend Oakland Municipal Code chapter 4.56 to allocate special tax revenues to the Oakland shelter for, access for encampment response fund for the purpose of providing, interim shelter traditional housing, encampment closure options, and other related homelessness services, and amend the OMC chapter 4.2 o to propose an eight year special commercial real estate transfer tax surge of 25% or transfer a of real property more than, than 2,000,000 to 5,000,000, 5% of the transfers of real property for more than $5,000,000 to 10,000,000 and of 1% of the transfer of the property above 10,000,000 with revenues allocated to the fund and directing the city clerk to take any and all actions necessary under the law to submit this measure to the voters at the general election and making CEQA findings.

This item is being requested to be scheduled to the May 14 rules and legislation committee agenda. Yes. That's that's it. It. Thank you so much.

Through the chair, if this is being scheduled to the May 14 rules committee that would require an urgency finding. There's you're within the ten days notice requirement of sunshine.

Okay. Did I know that through the chair the Michael in our office has worked more closely with the city attorney's office on this. I was under the impression it was not the May 14, thought it was the May 20, is it

twenty

first rules? No?

You can recommend a new scheduling date right now if that's a yeah I'm not so aware of the

this item will now be scheduled to the May 21 rules and legislation committee agenda? Yeah. So no urgency finding is needed at this time. Thank you so much. Moving to item 3.3, which will, excuse me, is a resolution to commemoratively rename 40th Avenue between Mere Street and Carrington Street as Gary Payton Way authorizing an an installation of a plaque honoring Gary Payton pursuant to the policy and procedure established by the Oakland City Council resolution seven seven nine six seven CMS.

And this is being requested to be scheduled for the May 19 city council agenda on consent. I will read in the rule 24 which is this resolution is commemorative in nature and requires timely consideration to align with community planned recognition for Gary Payton, his family, local schools, and the broader Oakland community. Moving to item 3.4, which is a resolution authorizing and directing the city attorney to compromise and settle the case of Madison Clark versus the city of Oakland, Alameda County Superior Court case, city attorney file number three six six zero three in the amount of $55,000. Department of Transportation, dangerous conditions of public property, and this is being requested to be scheduled for the May 19 city council agenda on consent. This will need a rule 24.

Through the chair for items three point four and three point five, these author these resolutions authorizing settlement agreements routinely go straight to council.

Thank you. The rule 24 stated on record for items three point four and three point five, which I will now read into record. 3.5 is a resolution authorizing the city attorney to release the city's potential claims as necessary to join a national settlement agreement with six remnant opioid defendants, national prescription opioid litigation, office of the city attorney public nuisance, false advertising unfair competition on to be scheduled on the May 19 city council agenda on consent. And as stated, by the city attorney, the rule 24 was stated prior. Moving to item 3.6.

Item 3.6 is a resolution confirming the mayor's appointment of Brian Hollard and, Kania Giles to commission of persons with disabilities. This item is being requested to be scheduled for the May 19 city council agenda on consent. I will read in the rule 24, due to the recent quorum challenges, experienced by the commission on the persons with disabilities during its last meeting, addressing current vacancies is essential to ensure the commission can consistently meet quorum requirements and continue its work without disruption, particularly as it advances issues impacting accessibility, inclusion, and the rights of persons with disabilities. Item 3.7 is a resolution confirming the mayor's appointment of Danforth Dougherty to the Budget Advisory Commission. This item is being requested to be scheduled for the May 19 city council agenda on consent.

I will read in the rule 24, which is due to recent quorum challenges experienced by the Budget Advisory Commission during its last meeting, they are requesting this item be brought forth. Now moving to item 3.8, which is a title change. I will read in the new title. There is a new subject title as well. I'm reading in the new title, which is a resolution commemoratively renaming the plaza at public right of way at the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center as More Hope Plaza.

This is being is requested for scheduling at May 19 city council agenda on non consent. Moving to item 3.9. Item 3.9 is a resolution submitting to the voters at the November third twenty twenty six general municipal election. The that would amend the Oakland City Charter to, among other things, make the mayor the city's chief executive officer responsible for managing city affairs. Two, empower the council to conform the appoint confirm the appointments of the directors of finance and human services, public works, and transportation.

Three, empower the council to create an independent budget and legisl legislative analysis office to provide the council physical and policy analysis that is objective and nonpartisan for affirm council members rights to request information and relay, relay constituent concerns and city official duties to respond promptly. Five, empower the council to hold legislative hearings and issue subpoenas. Six, create a memoir, may oriole veto with a line item budgeted veto and a council power to override any veto. Seven, require council members to work full time and not engage in outside employment. Eight, empower the public ethics commission to align the mayor's and council member salaries with those of comparable full time public offices officials, and nine require the public publication of ordinances within fifteen days of passage and directing the city clerk to take any and all action necessary under the law to submit this measure to the voters at the election and making appropriate environmental, CEQA findings.

This is being requested to be scheduled for the May 21 rules and legislation committee agenda. Item three ten is adopt an ordinance amending the salary schedule of salary ordinance to amend the salary ordinance for council members, city attorney, and city auditor in accordance with the Oakland's Public Ethics Commission Charter mandated salary adjustment. This is being requested for the May 26 finance and management committee agenda. Item number three eleven is adopting ordinance amending the salary schedule of ordinance, number one two one eight seven, salary ordinance to amend the salary for the mayor on the 05/26/2020, 05/26/2026 finance and management committee agenda. Item three twelve is receive an information report on the fiscal year '25 through twenty sixth third quarter revenue and expenditures results year end estimate for the general purpose fund and select funds.

And this is being requested to be scheduled for the May 26 finance and management committee agenda. Item three thirteen is receive an informational report on the status of the compliance with the sewer sewer consent decree wastewater discharge requirements for wastewater sewer systems and national pollutant discharge elements systems permit during the twenty four month period from 01/01/2024 through 12/31/2025. This is being requested to be scheduled for the 05/26/2026 public works and transportation committee agenda. Item three fourteen is adopt a resolution authorizing the city administrator to enter into an agreement with the Alameda County Flood Control and Waste, Conservation District to accept funds in the amount not to exceed $1,600,000 to implement the collective, collab collaboration to Creek Improvement and Clean Creeks program over a five year term from 07/01/2026 through 06/30/2030 Term two, appropriate funds in the amount not to exceed $1,600,000 from the district to implement the program for the term of the agreement, and three, adopt, appropriate CEQA findings. This item is being requested to be scheduled for the May 26 public works and transportation committee agenda.

Item number three fifteen, I believe has a title change. I do see staff approaching. Thank you.

You want me to read it?

Yes. Please read the full title. New title.

The full title should be awarded construction contract for project 1004857LincolnRecreationCenter expansion slash renovation project to SJ Amoroso Construction Company LLC, the lowest responsive and responsible bidder in accordance with contractor's bid, project plans, and specification for an amount of $28,437,000. Amend resolution eight nine four nine one CMS to increase the professional service agreement with Shah Kawasaki Architects by amount not to exceed $848,797, bringing the total contract amount from 3,000,003 million $28,849 to $3,877,646. And two, waive the competitive request to for proposal slash qualification requirements. And three, adopting appropriate California environmental quality act, sequel findings.

Thank you so much. That gave me a moment to breathe also. Moving to item three sixteen. Item three sixteen is two pieces of legislation. It's one, a resolution authorizing the city administrator to apply for except an appropriate up to $756,364 in fiscal year twenty twenty six through twenty seven state transportation development act article fund to fund the Comstock Way Stair Path Rehabilitation.

East Bay East 29th excuse me. 20 3rd Street Stair Path Rehabilitation in Long Ridge Road to Rosemont Road Stair Path Rehabilitation bicycle signage program and city racks bicycling parking program phase 18 in adopting a CEQA findings and two, a resolution adopting a list of projects for fiscal year twenty six to twenty seven funded by the SB one, the road repair and accountability act of 2027, and adopting a CEQA findings. And this is these two pieces of legislation are being requested to be scheduled for the May 26 public works and transportation committee agenda. Item three seventeen is receive an information report on the city of Oakland's general plan and housing element annual progress report for calendar year 2025 being requested to be scheduled on the May 26 community and economic development committee agenda. Item three eighteen is receiving informational report on the housing and development programs by the housing and community development department for fiscal year '25 through '26.

And this is also being requested to be scheduled on the May 26 community and economic development committee agenda. Item three nineteen consists of two pieces of legislation. One, a resolution authorizing the city administrator to accept inappropriate senate bill one grant funds from the California Ocean Protection Council in the amount of $144,900 to fund the staff time to work on the existing conditions and vulnerability assessment analysis for the subregional shoreline adaptation plan authorizing the city administrator to apply for except inappropriate additional senate bill one grant fund from the Ocean Protection Council in the amount up to $1,355,100 for completion of the subregional shoreline adaptation plan, and three, authorizing the city administrator to rep represent the city in intergovernmental relations with neighboring jurisdictions within shared shoreline operations landscape unit, and two, a resolution authorizing the city administrator to enter into a cooperative agreement to purchase services from the Conger Moss, Gillard Landscape Architectural for the development of the subregional shoreline adaptation plan by the relaying, relying on an existing professional services agreement between the city of Alameda and CMG landscape architecture for a amount not to exceed $1,355,100 in adopting appropriate CEQA findings to be heard on the May 26 Communion Economic Development Committee agenda.

Item 3.2 is adopt a resolution, amending resolution number eight excuse me, nine zero eight one nine to extend the agreement with Citiespan Technologies Inc for twelve months for the client services and contract database, ongoing grants management licensing, user support and project management, and custom programming for Oakland Fund for Children, Youth funded programs in the amount not to exceed $200,000 for 07/01/2026 to 06/30/2027, waiving the competitive multi step solicitation process for the acquisition of computerized or information technology systems, and waiving the local local small business enterprise, requirements. And this is being requested to be scheduled for the May 26 life enrichment committee agenda. Item 3.2 resolution directing the city administrator to, one, develop an amortization program to relocate industrial recycling facilities operated by California Waste Solutions and CASS from areas in West Oakland to address negative environmental impacts on local residents and a proceed proceed to planning commissions with amortization legislation no later than 12/31/2026. And this item is being requested to be scheduled for the May 26 life enrichment committee agenda. Item 3.22 is to adopt a resolution approving the 2025 to 2030 community violence reduction plan as required by the city, by the Oakland Community Violence Reduction and Emergency Response Act of 2024 and approved by the Oakland Public Safety Planning And Oversight Commission to be heard on the 05/26/2026 public safety committee agenda.

Item 3.23 is to adopt a resolution authorizing the city administrator to enter into a professional services agreement with Elite Corporate Solutions, to provide preemployment background investigations for the period of 06/01/2026 to 05/31/2029 in the amount of $300,000 with the option to extend the agreement for two years until 05/31/2031 as a cost of up to $202,100,000 dollars and without returning to counsel for a total amount not to exceed $500,000 to be heard on the 05/26/2026 public safety committee agenda. Item 3.24 is a resolution summarily vacating a public utility easement located at 747 52nd Street to the property owner Children's Hospital and Research Center of at Oakland and adopting CEQA findings. And this is being requested to be scheduled for the 06/09/2026 public works and transportation committee agenda. And that concludes your new scheduling. We do have four speakers for this item.

Okay. Great. Let's start with the public speakers.

Alright. As I call your name, please approach the podium in any order. If you are participating via Zoom, I ask that you please raise your hand so we can easily identify you. And again, please state your name for the record. We will start as usual with those who are participating here in person in chambers. I have currently Bear Binkman, Kevin Dally, Rajni Mandal, and Kathy Leonard. In any order, please approach the podium if you're here, and I called your name in person. Thank you.

Haendel district four. First of all, happy clerk's week. Clerks, you do such an amazing job. Can you please take over boards and commissions? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But thank you for everything you do. I wanted to speak on 3.22. I wanna raise a process concern about the community violence reduction plan.

At OPSBAC, the commission's last meeting, commissioners stated that the draft will still undergo revisions based on community feedback, department input, and discussions with the city attorney before the final version is released. Parts of the plan may also be moved or revised because of concerns about scope and oversight authority. This plan will guide more than $45,000,000 per year in public safety spending, and council can approve or reject it but cannot amend it. So I encourage council to look carefully at whether the plan stays focused on high level strategy and measure NN priorities, avoids embedding specific staffing, program, or policy decision that belong in the normal budget process, and avoids expanding OPSBAC's role into OPD, federal, NSA compliance, and other areas already overseen by existing bodies. I also ask counsel to ensure that the public has enough time to review the final draft before any vote.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Hi. Kevin Dally. I'm really happy to see the Charter 3.9 slowly working its way to rules. The description is pretty sparse so far. I'm hoping on May 21 we get full text.

I'm encouraged that there's no mention of the at large council member so far. I hope this means we're not deleting the at large council member who they have been very useful over the years to give a full full look at the city. I'm also noticing a few other things that are missing. I'm sure the information will be filled out. Can the mayor vote in the city council?

That's not mentioned. Currently, mayors allowed to vote to break a tie. Can't tell whether that's staying the same or following options one, two, or three of the various charter amendments. Again, looking forward to seeing more information as we get close. There's another item that's 3.4 Clark v Oakland.

This specifies a settlement 55,000 for dangerous conditions. It's Oak Dot, so I assume that this is either a street or a sidewalk issue. It doesn't specify what the dangerous condition is, and it doesn't specify the location. In most settlements over the past in the past, it does specify what happened and why there's a settlement. And from my perspective as a safe safe transportation advocate, I would like to know what the problem is and what we can do to make this situation less dangerous in the future. Thanks.

Thank you for your comments. If I called your name.

Good morning, council persons. Kathy Leonard. I'm here supporting council member Giles' resolution to commemoratively rename a section of 40th Avenue to Gary Payton Way. Gary Payton was born in Oakland, California. He attended Skyline, High School with some of my siblings.

He is widely considered one of the greatest point guards of all times, best known for his thirteen year tenure with the Seattle Supersonics, where he holds a the record for, franchise records in assists and steals that led them to NBA finals. As a player, he was NBA champion in 2006. Nine times, he was a NBA all star. Two times, he made the All NBA First Team. Five times, All NBA Second Team.

Two times, he was on the All star NBA third team. NBA defensive player of the year in 1996. Nine times he was oops, I lost that. NBA he made the NBA all defensive first team. He led the NBA as a assist leader, the steals leader, an all rookie on the second team. I mean, it goes on and on the accomplishments of this man. I'm happy that the city is recognizing him and honoring him with a commemorative plat. I'd also like to see him get a key to the city of Oakland. He's done a lot to raise our stature, and I appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. We will now go to our last speaker, Blair Beekman. You may begin.

Hi. Blair Beekman. I have three items to speak to. Three fourteen and few other items if I can get to them. Oh, yeah. Okay. I'll start with three twenty two, community violence reduction plan. Thank you for this. I think I'm not it's part of measure NN. I'm not sure so much about what measure NN is about, but it it caught my eye because I'm interested in how, you know, as a new city council, we're beginning to define our own best standards of how we're addressing crime in in Oakland.

Believe it or not, our former mayor and and Noel Gallo did an awesome job as part of building up a really good crime prevention plan that I think we're all really benefiting from it and respecting at this time. How are we gonna continue that? It's now up to ourselves as a new administration and and council to do that. So I'll be interested to how we're moving forward. Good luck in our efforts. You have a few items on housing to help unhoused issues. Thank you. They sound sane. I mean, they sound decent and a decent approach. So thank you for that.

We need it at this time. And just to hear the good stuff, it's important. And and to conclude, you have a item 3.14, Collaborative and Clean Creeks agreement. I felt your decision the past few days ago on the oak tree issue, cutting down of many oak trees, a good conversation that I felt. Councilperson Brown and councilperson Fife offered a really interesting point of view.

And in fact, councilperson Brown really clarified and made a very clear understanding of how to really view all sides of the issue. And in Oakland, how to view all sides of the issue. And it was a really important learning process for myself. I I I think he can be considered as egregious in what he's been doing, as councilperson Fife said. But from that, if that may be the initial fine fee charge for such actions that he's done, it's way overexpensive.

And we have to address that better. And I hope that can be clear a clear process we address that more clearly, how he can be fined in the future of such an event. And we have ongoing conversation on private property versus the right to respecting the environment and the area. That's an ongoing debate, and good luck how we have that debate. There was race involved with that, and that's new to me. Good luck with that too, and thanks for this for your items today.

Thank you for your comments. That concludes our public comment speakers for item three.

Thank you. I see that district two council member staff has a comment to make. Please go ahead.

Yes. Through the chair. For council member Wong's office, item number 3.2, resolution submitting to voters the Oakland Shelter Access for Encampment Response SAFR Act. We would like to pull that item.

Noted, thank you. Colleagues, any comments or questions? Okay, if not, I will state the changes to item three. Item 3.1, an urgency finding was stated. Item 3.2 was withdrawn. Item 3.8 had a title change. And item 3.15 had a title change. I will entertain a motion.

Move approval.

Second. And that was a motion by council member Brown, seconded by council member Fife to approve item three as amended and they on roll, my apologies. Council Member Brown? Aye. Council Member Fife? Aye. Council Member Ramachandra who's chairing this meeting? Aye. And Council Member Jenkins who's excused. It is excused.

That item three is approved as amended with three ayes, one excused. We will now go to item four. Item four is the review of the draft agendas pending list and the city council and committee meeting meetings and this is for the May 12 committees and May 14 rules. May the committee pending list and your draft May 19 council and draft rules '20 May 21.

Good morning through the chair. On the CED pending list item number eight, adopt a resolution authorizing the city administrator to negotiate terms and enter into an advertising signs relocation agreement with Outfront Foster Interstate LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company, OFI, with such agreement including the following, a, allowing OFI to erect up to five new digital advertising signs at certain locations in the city of Oakland in exchange for OFI causing the removal of up to 11 of its existing advertising faces at various locations in the city by dates certain. With OFI and OutFront waiving its rights to just compensation for the remove signs. B requiring OFI to make payments in advance of up to $2,305,000 for the fiscal year twenty twenty five to twenty twenty seven biannual budget and annual payments of up to $750,000 for each new digital advertising sign for 30 one for a thirty one year term with escalations and a ten year renewal option in addition to providing other financial incentives to the city including negotiated carbon offset fees and free advertising space and two adopting appropriate California Environmental Quality Act findings. We would like to remove this item from the pending list with no no further yeah.

Just remove it from the pending list. Thank you.

Thank you so noted. And just noting that is the CED pending list under pending no date specific number eight. Thank you so much.

Council member Houston, did did did you have a comment? Oh, okay. No other changes from staff? Alright. Then I will entertain a motion noting the amendment to the CD pending list item eight noting its removal and apologies, public comment.

Yes, apologies. Thank you so much, Rajne. I will state those names who signed up for item number four. And if you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand. And for those who are here in person, please approach the podium. I have Rajne Mandal, Kevin Dally, and Blair Beakman. Thank you so much.

Rajni Mandal, district four. This is for the community police review agency report on the May 12 public safety committee agenda. This appears to be the first time CPR is presenting to counsel under o m c 2.4603 after years of inconsistent reporting, a gap identified by the city auditor. Council member Wong's memo lays out ordinance required metrics like completed investigations, sustained findings, missed deadlines, mediation outcomes, and staff time spent on investigations. Information that has not been consistently presented in aggregate form to either the public or the police commission itself.

At the April 23 police commission meeting, director Lawson acknowledged CPR is still building its reporting infrastructure and determining what information it can report publicly. He also stated the agency has lacked written operating procedures for a significant period of time. Commissioners themselves expressed difficulty interpreting CPR as spreadsheets and requested clear reporting and trend analysis. That is why counsel's role here matters. The police commission has not been able to ensure this level of transparency and accountability despite the ordinance already requiring it. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Kevin Dally is passing his speaking time. And Blair Beakman, you have been unmuted. You may begin.

Hi. I'm attending a really important budget meeting in San Diego right now talking about homeless issues that may be seriously cut. I talked about the austerity problems in San Diego. Boy, I hope you guys can show them some good help, good ideas. Really need it. I and for this item, there's the on the I think it's the May twelfth public safety meeting. You're gonna have more issues on ceasefire. The item is being returned again to committee. It's going all around. And it's kinda nice that when you do that, actually, because it gives a lot of conversation and clarity.

It makes things really clear what you're actually working on. I kinda like it for that. So good luck what you can be doing. I don't know the the details of what's these what you're doing with Seatspire at this time, but this is another good violence present prevention program of Oakland, I think. I'm pretty sure that it's important. And and we've been doing this stuff well. I think we've we've done this stuff so well the past few years. We it's create kind of a shield against, you know, new Trump administration ideas of our our cities are in a horrific mess, and we're not. We're very organized. We have something really together in how to work on our issues, and it's nice to be proving that.

I hope you can continue that with things like ceasefire. And I hope you can really be continuing conversation on the future of Peregrine and Sellbrite. You you brought the items for conversation, and I would I hate to think they would simply die from the past council meeting. I hope we can continue and you can bring back in six months different options for the future that we were talking about at Public Safety Committee in April. I hope that that process can continue and that it's open and that we don't fear it. We develop ways that it can be a community conversation and that alleviates fear I think in those terms. Good luck how to do that good work. Thanks.

Thank you. And that concludes our public comment speakers for item four.

I will entertain a motion to approve item four as amended.

So moved. Second. And that was a motion by council member Fife, seconded by council member Brown to approve item four as amended. On roll, council member Brown. Aye. Council member Fife. Aye. Council member Ramachandran who yeah. Ramachandran who is chairing this meeting? Aye.

And council member Jenkins is excused. That's three ayes and one excused for item four. That now takes us to our discussion item number five. I will read that into record. Adopt a res oh, adopt a resolution, submitting to the voters at the November third twenty twenty six general municipal election, a measure that would amend the city charter section six zero four to among other things, simplify the process for appointing police commissioners by only having regular police commissioners that are appointed, one each by the council members and one by the mayor, strengthening the independence of the office of, inspector general by having the city auditor rather, then the city then the police commission appoint the inspector general, streamline the process for appointing police chiefs by using the same process used to appoint other department heads and directing the city clerk to take any and all action necessary under the law to submit this measure to the voters at the November third twenty twenty six general municipal election and making appropriate CEQA findings.

I do have several speakers for this item.

Thank you, to council member Houston. Did you have some

Oh, did you wanna take the speakers first, or how'd you wanna do this?

You can you can go

first. Okay.

So so thank you, audience, and thank you, my council members. Is president Jenkins gonna be online?

He is not.

So can I have, five minutes for this presentation, please?

Yes. And we can yeah.

Okay. Good. So but before we get started, I I want my colleagues and I want the, the audience to to to hear this. Is it and this is to the parliamentarian. Is it true that a quarter of the city attorney's legal opinion goes to clarify in section six zero four? This is to through the chair to the parliamentarian. Is that true? Is critical.

Through the chair to council member Houston, I don't have that number in front of me, but all of our public opinions are available on the city attorney's website.

So is is is is the city attorney Ryan Richardson around? Because I I wanna I want my my colleagues to hear that a quarter of the opinion is going towards six zero four. Is Ryan Richardson around?

The city attorney is not here, but, again, anyone can access and see all of our public opinions on

on the website. So what and and my colleagues to my colleagues, I know you guys been overwhelmed about the support of these three small issues. They're small, but they're huge. And this presentation is to amend the charter six zero four. They also did a poll, and that's gonna be coming out that 80% of these three small but huge changes, the public wants them. So, Trent

Before you start, do you have this presentation sent to K Top?

Yeah. K Top should have it. K Top, can you pull that up, please?

Thank you.

So what we'll do, we can go to page one. Trinity, did you wanna no. Let's just pat bypass that established, through ballot measure LL 2,016 and reinforcement through the ballot measure s one twenty twenty, the history of, the police commission. Let's just bypass that one, Trinity. Let's go to the proposed charter amendments.

Simplify the process for appointing police commissioners by only having regular police commissioners that are appointed one each by the council members and one by the mayor. The second one is strengthen the independence of the office of inspector general by having the city auditor rather than the police commission appoint the inspector general. Three, streamline the process for appointing the police chief by using the same processes used to appoint other department heads. Trinity, go to number four. Rationale for the proposed chatter charter member number one.

Let me read it out. Simplify the process for appointing police commissioners by only having regular police commissioners that are appointed one, each by the council members, eight council members, and one by the mayor, which will be nine. Trinity.

Good morning to the chair. With respect to this election panel, there has been major dysfunction in the process of appointing commissioners. Council has repeatedly rejected the proposed slate of new commissioners by the police commission. Regarding keeping politics out of the police commission business, Oakland City Council members and the mayor are nine independent and democratically elected officials for civilians that are elected by the people to provide civilian oversight. In a democracy, elected civilians are more accountable versus those who are appointed to protect the people.

I have some highlights here. I'd like to say that before you go to the next one. The city council members are civilians that were elected by the people. We are more accountable to the people than appointed than individuals that are appointed that do not have accountability to the voters. Trinity, let's go to page four five.

Page five, rationale proposed charter amendment number two, strengthen the independence of the office of inspector general by having the city auditor, which is an elected elected by the people rather than the police commission appointed by the inspector general. Trinity?

Good morning to the chair. The inspector general must look at all policing policies and provide critiques for improvement. This includes policies from OPD, the police commission, and the community policing review agency also known as CPR. The inspector general needs to make these critiques public and report them to the police commission free of any restraints related to their employment status.

Hold on, Trudy. I want you to explain that a little bit so the public can hear that. What does that mean by employment status status?

Essentially, if the inspector general is to critique policies created by the police commission, it creates a bit of a complex situation because the police commission has an involvement with the hiring and removal of the inspector general. It makes it a bit complex to provide impartial critiques knowing that you're critiquing policies created by individuals who can who have the ability to influence your employment status.

Great job. Go to the second one, please.

For example, the issue with the inspector general making these critiques is the inspector general must report policy critiques to the police commission who helps run those policies. And making a sound critique becomes complex because the inspector general can be fired by the police commission. Placing the inspector general in a position where there may be restraints on their ability to critique impartially is cause for concern. That does not make for an independent inspector general. Placing the inspector general on the under the purview of the city auditor resolves the concern. The city auditor is an elected official. They will not run the office of the inspector general under their purview. The city auditor will appoint the authority of the inspector general. This will get the inspector general more independence, accountability, and bolster impartiality.

So let me share my highlights that I have here. The inspector general would be the department head and the city auditor for that one purpose, to appoint the OIG. The city auditor would not run the inspector general's office directly. Hear me out. It won't run it directly. The city auditor would be appointing authority of the OIG and will give the inspector general more independence, more independence and accountability. Trinity, let's go to page number six.

Council member would you like an additional five minutes?

Yes I would please. Five minutes. Five minutes went by that fast? Woah. Alright so, rationale, let's talk about the rationale. This is number, page number six, rationale proposed charter amendment number three. Streamline the process for appointing police chiefs by using the same processes used to appoint other departments. This is so so important because of the hiring and the firing of the police chiefs and we know about that. Trinity.

Striking the tenth provision from section six zero four of the city charter will place the power to appoint a chief of police into the hands of the mayor. Speaking to the charter reform that is expected to come to expected to be placed on the ballot, if the majority of voters select strong mayor, the amendments to section six zero four will align. If the majority of voters select council manager, manager, then the power will be vested in the city attorney's the city apologize. The city administrator's office is subjected to the same process of appointing department heads. This will help to improve the process for hiring a chief of police. The city has had many turnovers with chiefs of police. The city needs a permanent chief of police who can do their job.

So I have highlights here. We've had police chiefs that successfully sued us. We know that. We've had vacancies that lasted more than a year. Now the latest vacancy since the police chief gave his to to leave in October 2025, we still have not found the chief of police.

And we are not pro projected to find the chief of police until July per the police commission. What I'm thinking is this, I'm I'm watching I don't I don't believe I have the votes here. I don't believe I have the votes because of certain political reasons. I like to put this on the pending list and let me tell you why. So the the public can start a signature gathering campaign to move this item forward.

So I wanted this to be the public can see this so the individuals are gonna do, that that that that gathering for this campaign could have something to pull from. So I like to put this on the pending list.

Thank you, thank you council member. We will move to public speakers, but I will actually, yeah, sorry. We if there's no further comment from colleagues, I will we will call public speakers. Council member five.

Through the chair to the parliamentarian, since I believe this is being pulled right now or put in Put in the pending list. But there was a full presentation, so we can still ask questions to the, to the member who brought this item forward. Correct?

Correct. Through the chair to council member Feife. Yes. This is, in front of the committee.

Because I I I wanna state for the record that there should never be a presumption of a position that I would take. I entertain particularly ballot initiatives going to the voters to give the voters an opportunity to decide on what they would like to see. My questions that I had for today's agenda item were to clarify some things that I believe are contradictory to not only the auditor's report, but also to the intended to the intent of the item itself. So through the chair, I would rise to ask our colleague a a few questions about, some of the proposed amendments. The first being having regular police commissioners that are appointed one each by the council members with no alternate with no alternates.

So through the chair, is it okay if I ask the questions? Through the chair, I would like to know if the goal is to simplify the process for the police commission or address power imbalance. And I would also ask, should I ask all my questions consecutively or just one So

so so answer that quest ask that question again.

Is the goal to simplify the process for the police commission selection or

Selection Commission.

Selection Panel. Panel. Or is it to address power imbalance?

The selection panel has been it it has not been good process. Just last week, the week before last when I went, they had the wrong agenda. It's just it's it's it's takes too long. The the the and and if we have each one of our council members, which is eight, and the mayor to appoint, we will have nine we will appoint nine commissioners. And that's what we should do, the same process that we do at all other when we elect all other when we appoint all the other commissions.

But having no alternates if someone is sick or there's an issue, if there are no alternates through the chair, could we potentially face a lack of quorum where then nothing is done?

So let me go through to ask the city attorney this question because if we have nine and two fall off, how many do we have? We have seven. So do the do the, chair city attorney?

I'm sorry. What what's the question?

Carol?

For our office. I didn't I didn't ask a question.

No. You just asked a question. The nine. About a quorum.

What with without alternates, if there are multiple I I guess this is to you. It is because Would would there be an issue would there potentially be an issue with quorum? I'm sorry.

It, just speaking generally, it depends, you know, what the quorum is for the body. If, you know, if you still have quorum, the meeting can continue on. Is that the helper?

Sure. Whatever. So so if we have eight appointees from from the city council and one from the mayor, we have nine members. Mhmm. How does this address the power imbalance in the political the the politics of of the body that or can we also define politics, what that means?

Explain that again.

It was stated in the legislation that this is in order to simplify the process and address a power imbalance. I believe those are two distinctly different things. I'm under I'm trying to understand how the appointments address either of those two, the power imbalance or simplification of the process?

On the on the I just mentioned it. When it comes to the nine appointees, I don't understand what you're saying, council member. Okay.

Sir, you are out of order. Please please refrain from commenting from the public. Thank you.

So the report the the report also states that the goal is to strengthen the independence of the office of inspector general, and the shift changes the the this change moved the responsibility but doesn't strengthen independence. And in the auditor's report, he mentions what the body needs in order to strengthen the independence, and he recommends the city auditor recommended that the city attorney's office should provide an independent analysis of the resources needed, including staffing to support the requirements of the police oversight agencies, the commission, the community police review agency, and the office of inspector general. The city author auditor also said that in conjunction with relevant stakeholders, including the police commission, the CPRA, and the office of inspector general, the council should develop and adopt revisions to the municipal code which I stated that I would bring forward those revisions to resolve the conflicts between the muni code and the charter, namely clarifying whether the IG is a civil service position and, you know, etcetera. So I wanna understand why are we moving, proposing to move against what the elected city auditor recommends for, independence.

The city auditor is elected. Oh, go ahead.

Just to maintain order through the chair.

The city auditor is an elected body. And if the inspector general falls under the elected body, that person it is almost like yeah. That person is is is is he the inspector general will have more independence to make the right decision instead of falling under the the police commission. Okay. So That's why I wanted Ryan Richardson here also because I asked him some of those questions and he could answer because those are legal questions.

I can also clarify the quorum question. So under the proposed amendments, well, under the existing charter, the quorum is, five members. So if you don't have alternates, as long as you have five members, then there's a a meeting of the body.

Thank you for that. Okay. That's

what I put it.

And then removing the police chief appointment from the commission and allowing the mayor or the city administrator, to select police chiefs. If we engage in the same process for attracting directors, do we have any timeline on how long it's taken to select directors? Because I would argue that that's also a timely process. From the last several directors that we've hired has taken a lot of time to do. So what changes if we move to, follow the process that the city does in other with other departments through the chair?

It has been we've had the police chief fired. We've had let me this is what I let me put this on the pending list because I wanted Ryan Richardson here to speak to some of these issues that I spoke to him about.

So you do you you were gonna put this on the pending list and bring it back through the chair? Yes. To bring it back? Yes. Okay.

We I I just wanna say that this still concentrates power with one elected official or a nonelected official, and the city administrator is currently not elected. And so if we're talking about I I'm not I'm not exactly sure who were who was being suggested to be able to, engage in this power, but removing one of the more important it it does remove one of the more important roles of the police commission. And the only reason we have a police commission is because people's rights have been violated over and over and over again. And over 80% of this residents of the city of Oakland wanted to see something, like this brought forward. We recently had an in custody death of a former NFL player, that we didn't understand what happened, for for several weeks, if not months.

And people have a right to transparency and oftentimes and it's not just with this the the Oakland Police Department. I have to say that sometimes it's like pulling teeth with several departments in the city of Oakland to get real information. I've had challenges with the finance department for years, the department of transportation for years, and sometimes they they know because we can't direct staff that they can just wait us out. So I think I'm I'm happy that there will be charter reform, and I will reserve my questions and and maybe put them in a list so they can be, you know, so they can be reviewed, and make those available publicly. But I I have several questions, and I I am going to utilize this platform to get those questions out so the public understands where I'm coming from because this is this is a big deal.

This is this is a very, very important process that we're engaging in, and I want to make sure that what I'm presenting to the voters are suggesting that the voters review is based in truth and fact because the push poll that was released to get information about what the voters actually want was just that. It was a push poll with fallacious results, and we cannot start on a basis of fallacy. I'm complete.

Okay. Thank you. We can move to oh, councilor Mishason, did you have anything else? No. I'm good. I'm good. Okay. Thank you. So just to restate, since the motion can't come from you, I'm happy to channel what you requested to make a motion to withdraw this item and move it to the rules committee pending list.

And you need a second on that. Right? I'll second it.

And then public comment. Thank you.

So noted. Thank you for that. We will now move to public comment. We have, when I call your name, please approach the podium in any order. And please state your name for the record.

If you are participating via Zoom, please raise your hand so I can easily identify you and select you when your, turn is to speak. We'll start with those in, in chambers first. Again, as I called your name, please approach the podium and state your name for the record. Rajne Mandal, Kevin Dally, Lorelai Bauserman, Millie Cleveland, Rashida Grenache, Pamela Drake, David, McGinnis, Kathy Leonard, Maloff from o OIG organization, and Blair Beakman in any order. Thank you.

Strict four, Oakland's history is exactly why strong civilian oversight matters and why the public takes this issue seriously. But nearly after a decade of operation, it is reasonable to ask whether the current structure is functioning as clearly, effectively, and accountably as intended. The city auditor identified recurring governance and accountability concerns in both 2020 and 2026, including unresolved conflicts between oversight bodies, unclear lines of authority, and gaps in accountability mechanisms. We have also seen repeated legal disputes and coordination challenges involving the city's oversight system. These are serious institutional questions, and discussing them is not a rejection of oversight.

It is part of ensuring that civilian oversight remains credible, effective, and sustainable long term. Regardless of what happens procedurally today, I hope that these governance questions continue to receive thoughtful public discussion and review. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

Millie Cleveland, district four, coalition for police accountability. Can we just cut to the chase about what councilman Houston's Houston's resolution is really about? Whose interest does it serve? Do you want a police department that functions in a way that protects the constitutional rights of its residents, or don't you? Do you want a police commission without a commune without community input on who should be on the commission, or don't you?

Do you want the community to have a built in way to have a say on the criteria for their police chief, like through a civilian police commission or not? Do you want the commissioner's appointments divorced from political influence, or do you wanna set the conditions for corruption or not? It's time to pick your side. There is no middle ground before you declare there is a problem with the charter. You first must make sure you're implementing it as it's written, then you can identify if there are problems.

And before this council thinks they have the bandwidth to oversee the police department, I suggest the rules committee start agendizing the job public safety should be focused on. When are you gonna have a hearing on police overtime and have someone other than the police talk? When are you gonna direct the city administrator to focus on the recommendations from the city auditor? Why haven't you moved and agendized the civilianization of positions within the police department? Why aren't you asking the community what they would like to address in the OPOA negotiations?

Why isn't there GPS in the patrol cars? Why hasn't that been activated? Can why haven't you evaluated macro? Where is the discussion on community policing?

Thank you. Your time. Next speaker, please. If I call your name and you were here in chambers. Thank you, mister Dalley.

Kevin Dalley. First, I want to just bring up the obvious procedural issue that we're discussing charter amendments in 3.9. Council member Houston has referred to this. But if there are conflicts between the suggested amendment related to the police commission and the not yet released charter amendments in 3.9, how will they be resolved? Probably whichever one gets the highest number of votes.

But it it would be good if if council member Houston moves ahead with this, it would be nice to look at the charter amendment before deciding exactly what the wording should be. On the other hand, I really hope council member Houston does not move ahead with this resolution. Police oversight is important. We have had decades of problems with police police misbehavior. Most police officers are ethical and honest, but OPD is not handling those those police officers who don't do a good job.

And I really appreciate council member Fife's continued watching over the police. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

Appreciate it, Grenaj. It's been a while. There's a reason why there was no no argument on the twenty sixteen ballot measure called Measure LL. Nobody submitted a no argument. There was no no argument on the twenty twenty ballot called measure s one.

What does that mean? It means nobody in the city, not the city council, not the police department, not the OPOA, not any community organization could find a reason to urge residents of Oakland to vote no. What does that say, and what's different now? So now we have ten years of experience, and we have an auditor's report. And we can see that things are not perfect, but we also have a mechanism for dealing with the issues that have been identified.

And that method is the ordinance, the enabling legislation, which is outdated because it preceded measure s one. It was brought to the council in 2024. It had one reading, and it was dropped. So the responsibility is to

Thank you so much. Your time has ended. Thank you so much for your comments. Next speaker, please.

Give me extra time to get here. I'm gonna tell you, it's hard to to park around here and walk around here. Pamela Drake with the Wellstone Club and the Progressive Working Group. I have to say it's it's annoying and tiring to come here all the time to explain this. I think the public understands, maybe some of you guys don't. What if you look at Washington DC, you see a similar thing happen. They had a lot of inspector generals that the the president decided, we don't need that, and they got rid of them. Then they have regulatory groups. That's what the police commission is. It's not intended to be organization nor to be governed by politics.

It's a regulatory oversight agency. And if you decide to get rid of regulatory oversight, you will be back where you were many years ago when people will lose their lives with no accountability. And it hasn't been that long be be since a man was killed by a rookie, well, the rookie move on the exit on Lakeshore near my house. And the city ended up paying a lot of money. So there's a lot of lawsuits that can come from this, but the reality is this is a regulatory body that we should be proud of as Oaklanders.

We have innovative independent, most community minded oversight body in the country and that is over our most expensive, most inefficient department which has the ability to be the most lethal. It's really important that we maintain this regulatory atmosphere that is removed from politics as much as possible. Thank you.

Kathy Leonard, daughter of Oakland. The o p the police department has been in existence for one hundred and forty seven years. The police commission, ten years. During that one hundred and forty seven years, the police have been unable to police themselves. So So why don't we just cut to the chase about really what's going on here?

Getting rid of the police commission, getting rid of the OIG by sending them over to the auditor's office, which is nothing but a ploy to get rid of the OIG's office. So here's what we should do. Let's bring back the Oakland rioters because that's where we're heading. Let's bring back the pedophiles in the Oakland police department who abused a minor and then tried to say she was a prostitute when she was being sexually abused by more than five police officers. Let's bring back oh, no.

We already have that. I'm sorry. $400,000 in unbudgeted overtime. There's so much to bring back here. Let's bring back the framing and the beating of black and Latino citizens in the city of Oakland. That's where we're headed. This proposal has OPO's hands all over it. All over it. So since when has the police has city council been carrying water for the police union? That's what I wanna know.

This proposal is so ill thought out that the author couldn't even explain to his colleague basic questions about how this thing is supposed to move forward. Let's get this right. Leave your hands off the police commission. Over 80% of Oaklanders voted for it because they were sick and tired of a hundred and forty seven years of Thank

you for your comments. Next speaker.

Zervon Malouf, inspector general. I oppose that the city auditor select inspector general, and I have three main concerns. Number one, the loss of police commission authority. Number two, it weakens community input. And number three, it produces a conflict of interest with auditing standards.

I'm gonna go through each one. So the loss of police commission authority. There's historical content context to why the police commission in Oakland is one of the strongest in the nation. The Oakland Charter and the ordinance established the police commission to, oversee independent oversight, which includes hiring the inspector general. So this proposal removes that core function.

It undermines the balances the balance between intentional that's the powers intentionally designed to keep oversight independent from city hall and elected officials. My second concern is that it weakens committee input. The commissioners public meetings provide an opportunity to have a open forum where community members can speak directly to the inspector general selection process. This proposal shifts that authority to the city auditor and eliminates the public facing process, reducing transparency. And then it also reduces the public's ability to evaluate IG candidates, their qualifications, their knowledge, skills, abilities.

My third concern, which is the most important, is that a conflict of interest under government auditing standards. Under government auditing standards, an auditor cannot independently audit an office whose leadership that they select. It compromise both the appearance and the reality of impartiality. So without the ability to

Thank you for your comments, mister Law. David thank you.

So this

is part of a larger

Please speak in the mic. The

council, I understand from talking to my council member, you guys are already acknowledged the lack of progress in Oakland, the dysfunction, and are looking at a charter amendment to get better accountability chain of command in the city of Oakland. It's been mentioned that, you council members can ask a department for information and get it back. I heard couple of years even. So this is you know, there's no, responsibility for city decisions. We need it to go to an elected person.

Certainly, mayor part of that that Elihu Harris, former mayor, had on his desk. The buck doesn't stop here. Well, it's and now the same maze of of of management of different of this department and other and related to other police commission departments oversight has resulted in nothing happening. Look at how many months it's been each of the times this, commission has fired people or they've let chiefs have left and just getting the cult consultants hired. So, you know, I want civilian oversight to investigate police misconduct.

I I'm standing here. You want me on the commission that's gonna get a consultant for the and then vote on which of the many? No. And these people are not elected. They're volunteers. And I believe, mister Houston, they're not even allowed to have any public safety or at least police experience. So I think that should be added to this. Yeah. So I agree compared other people with all of your points. Police commission in charge for

Thank you for your comments. We will now move to those who part, signed up to speak in Zoom. I have Lorelai Bosterman and Blair Beakman. Lorelai, you have been unmuted. You may begin your time. Please unmute yourself.

My name is Lorelei Bauserman. I'm alarmed that this proposal is even being considered. We've tried letting politicians oversee the police. It didn't work. The police union has too much influence on politicians. We've seen that before, and we're seeing it now. That's why the selection panel was created to provide a buffer between politics and the police commission. The police commission is making real quantifiable changes. Open police don't shoot and kill as many civilians as they did before the police commission, but the police union wants to eliminate independent oversight. They would prefer to be overseen by the city council, and we can all see why.

It's because council members like Ken Houston and Kevin Jenkins are willing to do the police union's bidding. As Kathy Leonard said, this proposal has opioids fingerprints all over it. That's exactly why we need to defend the independence of the police commission. This proposal to change the city charter is an attack on the independence of the police commission. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, and our last speaker for this item, Blair Beekman, you may unmute yourself and begin.

Hi. Blair Beekman. Unknowledgeable Blair Beekman trying to help the public process. I hope I can help. I don't wanna hurt things.

But, you know, it's I tried to explain before in a previous, rules meeting a few weeks ago that, you know, it's my understanding, you know, with there is a a community police commission and then the police review commission, and you guys are making efforts to separate the two seriously and have really strong borders where one is a community police effort and one is a police review board of government. And I I I think we all understand that. You you want an officer inspector general to have to basically be working under the city administration and to answer to them as opposed to answering to the board. That's being really questioned right now as best practices. And and and Oakland simply has a tradition of having the police review commission itself, a weigh in on the future of a police chief, which offers a bit I don't know.

I've it's a system that I felt was okay. And you guys are trying to separate all of that and make it I'm I'm I'm concerned. You know? Your efforts to separate from the community police review board, are we taking it too far? That's that's my question for this process, and it's not being asked.

We're not we're not separate. We're not offering the two different boards what each board does, what their strengths are, and and and you're trying to play the strengths that I'm not sure we need to be playing to in in having I know you want to address, administration more in police policies, and, I just don't know if this is the right approach. And so that's my 2¢ at this time. I hope this sort of, conversation can be a more open conversation. And we talk about the public process, not

Thank you. That concludes our public speakers for item five. We do have a motion by council member Ramachandra and seconded by council member Fife to move item five to the rules pending list, no date specific. Should I call roll?

I believe so. No.

K. On roll. Council member Brown? Aye. Council member Fife? I wanted to respond to one of the public speakers. I still had a comment. Oh, please go ahead.

Thank thank you. And I I just wanted to make a statement because I I want the public to understand that I'm willing to entertain changes that need to happen around oversight so that it is strengthened, not eliminated, but strengthened. And the reason I'm asking questions is to make sure that we get it right. We're not there yet. So hopefully, when this does come back as it it as we know that it will come back, I'm able to ask questions, work with the maker of, this particular motion, do the work of the enabling ordinance, and then come back and ask a series of questions to make sure that the public knows what we're doing.

But regarding the 11 chiefs in thirteen years, I just wanted to to state that just because we've had 11 chiefs in thirteen years does not mean it's the fault of oversight. And in fact, I would argue that a lot of the changes that have occurred into Oakland becoming safer is because of oversight night, not in spite of it. So I wanted to say that in in 2000, four officers known as the riders were accused of racial profiling, beating people, framing them, and planning drugs. In 2003, a 119 plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against these officers, and there was a $10,000,000 settlement that included federal oversight. In 2012, after ongoing problems and backslidings, attorneys asked the judge to put in, OPD into receivership.

In 2013, within months, there were serious problems. Chief Jordan failed to comply with the agreement. In 2013, Anthony Terribio became the chief, and two days later, Sean Went was appointed permanent chief. And we all know what happened with with Sean Went. He resigned.

He covered up a scandal that included black officers. He, well, didn't take under consideration what the complaints were by the black officers. There was a wide there were wide ranging investigations including, 14 OPD officers charged with raping a minor, paying for sex, as accessing OPD databases for personal gain, a host of other things. 2016 to 2017, the administrator, Sabrina Landreth, became the overseer of OPD while we were looking for a permanent chief. Then in 2016, voters passed measure LL.

Is anyone paying attention to what's key chief Kirkpatrick, who was the police chief for Oakland, is now in Louisiana, is experiencing people should really research what she's going through right now for all her lack of oversight. There are a host of other things that I could list, but again, we are not less safe because of of police commission and civilian oversight. The police department in the Oakland in in Oakland has gotten better as a result. We are not there yet. We are not out of the woods, but removing oversight or changing it in a way that takes away civilians' ability to participate in a democratically approved process will make us less safe.

We do not wanna backslide. We wanna get it right, and we wanna strengthen what needs to be strengthened and remove things that don't need to be there. But we need to do that authentically and not based on push polls by people who are dead set on restructuring in Oakland in their own image. I, am complete, madam chair.

Madam clerk, we can, proceed with the roll call.

Thank

you. Thank you. And I will, recall the roll because I did, state the wrong move or seconder. So this was a motion by council member Ramachandra and seconded by council member Brown to move item five to the rules pending list, no date specific. On roll, council member Brown. Sorry. Brown. Aye. Council member Fife. Aye. And council member Ramachanjan, chair? Aye. And council member Jenkins is excused. Item number five is approved to be moved to the pending list, no date specific, with three ayes, one excused. That now takes us to the open forum.

As I call your name, please approach the podium in any order or raise your hand in the queue if you are participating via Zoom. I have Blair Beakman, Kevin Dally, Rajne Mandal, Millie Cleveland, Kathy Leonard, and Jose Dorado in any order?

Rajne Mandal, District 4. I wanna take a moment to recognize the passing of Wilson Ryals junior. Mister Ryles dedicated decades of service to Oakland as a city council member, community leader, and most recently as a member of the police commission. He represented a generation of public servants deeply engaged in the civic life of this city, from affordable housing and youth programs to broader social justice efforts. Whatever our individual perspectives, we should honor the time, energy, and commitment he gave to Oakland over many years. My condolences to his family, friends, and all who worked alongside him. Thank you.

Kevin Dally also recognized gave the passing of Wilson Riles junior. A week from today is bike to wherever day. It's a chance for all the elected officials to ride with their constituents. In fact, Wach Oakland, Bike Oakland has promised that if you get up in the morning, you can ride with elected officials. So far, though, we've only heard from two council members.

I know you guys are busy. You plan on being there but haven't replied yet. So council member Unger has said yes. Council member Ramachandran has a conflict. I'm hoping all the rest of you can meet. Bad news, d b Stokeland, as usual, has to get up super early because they have a longer distance to ride. But 07:15 onward and there's time to get here, have breakfast, and be at the rules committee next week. See you there.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

Buenos Tires. My name is Jose Antonio Dorado, former police commissioner. I also wanna recognize the passing of Wilson Riles junior, and my comments are in honoring his memory, his revolutionary memory. I wanna remind folks of why LL passed, why we have a police commission. It was in response to OPD brutality, corruption, and scandals that are ongoing.

They have not stopped. And the the fact that the NSA has not been complied with is a direct result of those brutalities, corruption, and scandals. The specific reason why the police commission was established was not just in response to those conditions, but also specifically written so that there was independence. Independence

Thank you. Your time is up. Next speaker, please. Yes. I'm sorry.

Millie Cleveland. I wanna respond to the issue of dysfunctional. The reason the problems that are going on with the selection panel are primarily due to the illegal interference from the city administration with the independence of the selection panel. We have had the city administrator's office argue with the chair over the agenda, which is inappropriate. We had the city administration decide not to use a very in-depth application process that was developed by the selection selection panel without the selection panel's vote to rescind that.

So the problems that are going on with the selection panel, we've it's been reported that there are council people who are actually advocating for police commissioners, which is the opposite is of what should occur because it's supposed to be divorced from political influence. So the problems with the selection panel

Thank you. Your time has left.

Before I begin, we only get one minute to speak in open forum? There's nobody here. We should get two minutes. It come on, people. Okay. Kathy Leonard, daughter of Oakland. I wanna pay respects to, our former council person Wilson Riles from District 5. He preceded, council person Noel Gallo. He was a member of the Brothers of Elders. He was a member with me of with the African American Latino Action Alliance.

He was a guy who loved Oakland, who loved people, and who loved doing the right thing, which I hope this council can carry forward in his legacy. I'd also like to pay respects to my cousin, Edda Mae Johnson. I did not know she was my cousin. She was very loud at city council meetings, but it turns out, I didn't know she can't whisper. That's her normal voice. But she graduated from Calcimont, my alma mater. She worked with many stars, the Jackson five, Michael Jackson. She wardrobe styled a lot of stars that we all love.

Thank you. And our last speaker for open forum is Blair Beakman. You've been unmuted, you may begin.

Hi, Blair Beakman. Thanks a lot for the previous words from the previous, public comment. I wish, public comment could be two minutes here at the end more often. You do it occasionally. I wish you could do it more often, especially when there's not many people around.

Yeah. I wanted to comment. I I made a gaffe at the council meeting on Tuesday about, s b seven zero seven that you passed. The way I'm understanding it, I've reread the actual stick I read the state proposition, SB seven zero seven, and it states it has a different ending than what yours does. You clarify it as the the meeting can continue if after an hour, there's Internet problems. Whereas on the state law, it doesn't specifically say that. It leaves it slightly vague. And you guys tried to clarify that. Is that legal that you did that? And that's my question. And I hope we can

Thank you for your comments. That concludes our open forum speakers.

Madam city clerk, just I would like to adjourn this meeting in the name of Wilson Riles who most recently was my constituent, and I proudly authored a letter of recommendation for his appointment to the police commission, which he honorably served for a few years. I know there's many here who can speak very eloquently about his dedication and commitment to the city of Oakland, not only when he was a council member but for many, many years past. In my time as the d four council member, having him as my constituent, we spoke on such a range of topics that mister Riles had deep knowledge on. And at the end of the day, what struck me the most was the importance of good governance, and that really sticks with me. And his memory is going to be continue to be honored, but we will adjourn this meeting in his memory.

And I assume there will also be other acknowledgments here at City Hall.

Thank you, for the opportunity to speak. I I wanted to speak to the bike to work day. My office just got the invite last night at 10:55PM, so I wanted to let mister Dalley know that we have been reaching out. Haven't heard back until last night, but I do plan on on writing as I do every year. In in terms of Wilson Riles, I want the public to understand that he was a radical revolutionary for justice, and he would be appalled at what is happening even with some of the people calling his name.

And I when when I die, when I pass, I want people to stand up for me and be like, no, she wouldn't be she wouldn't be happy with that. And I know Wilson Riles would too, and I know what he wants us to fight for. So while I honor him, it means I will honor the authenticity of who he was and not let dirt get put on his name by people who are opposing his agenda. So I just wanted to state that for the record, we will not play with revolutionaries in Oakland.

Thank you. This meeting is adjourned.